LIBRARY  OF  THE  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 

PRINCETON.  N.  J. 


PRESENTED  BY 


Princeton  University  Library 


ABBA    FATHER 


By 


y 


WILLIAM  DeWITT  HYDE 


Abba  Father 

Or^  The  Religion  of  Everyday  Life 


=rf^; 


New   York       Chicago      Toronto 

Fleming  H,  Revell  Company 

London         and        Edinburgh 


Copyright,   1908,  by 
FLEMING  H.  REVELL  COMPANY 


SECOND  EDITION 


New  York:  158  Fifth  Avenue 
Chicago:  80  Wabash  Avenue 
Toronto:  25  Richmond  Street,  W. 
London:  21  Paternoster  Square 
Edinburgh:      100    Princes    Street 


PREFACE 

TO  walk  and  talk  with  God,  as  child 
with  father,  friend  with  friend ; 
lifting  up  life  into  the  light  of 
His  love — this  is  religion.  Instead  of 
criticism  of  it,  commentary  upon  it,  con- 
troversy over  it,  philosophy  about  it,  ex- 
hortation to  it,  of  which  the  world  is  full, 
this  little  book  offers  religion  itself,  just  as 
one  would  offer  a  picture,  a  story  or  a  song. 
Real  religion  is  the  offering  up  of  each 
man's  life,  in  its  concrete  setting,  day  by 
day,  hour  by  hour,  moment  by  moment, 
to  the  guidance  and  keeping  of  God. 
Thus  each  man's  religion,  like  his  life,  is 
individual,  unique. 

As  such,  however,  it  is  incommunicable. 
Consequently,  when  one  would  share  it 
with  others,  as  in  public  worship,  many 
experiences  and  needs  of  many  men  must 

[5] 


Preface 

be  thrown  together  into  a  composite  ex- 
pression. This  of  course  is  the  way  litur- 
gies and  books  of  common  prayer  are 
formed. 

Admirably  adapted  as  they  are  for  unit- 
ing at  one  time  and  place  the  many  aspi- 
rations of  many  hearts,  they  too  have  their 
limitations.  Amid  such  a  kaleidoscopic 
variety  and  succession  of  petition  and 
praise  the  mind,  unless  it  be  unusually 
nimble  and  alert,  becomes  distracted.  As 
Mr.  Arthur  C.  Benson  has  said,  "  To  fol- 
low a  service  with  uplifted  attention  re- 
quires more  mental  agility  than  I  possess ; 
point  after  point  is  raised,  and  yet,  if  one 
pauses  to  meditate,  to  wonder,  to  aspire, 
one  is  lost,  and  misses  the  thread  of  the 
service."  Still  for  public  worship,  the 
liturgy,  with  all  these  obvious  defects,  is 
the  best  thing  we  have ;  even  though  it 
must  ever  be  a  service  more  of  the  emo- 
tions than  of  the  mind. 

Midway  between  the  concrete  religion 
of  active  life  and  the  abstract,  composite 
liturgy,  there  is  a  form  of  worship  adapted 

[6] 


Preface 


to  the  individual  in  the  quiet  hour.  It 
takes  a  single  aspect  of  our  common  ex- 
perience at  a  time ;  holds  it  before  the 
mind  in  logical  development  and  sustained 
attention  ;  and  thus  with  mind  and  heart 
together  lifts  it  into  the  light  of  the  divine. 
As  a  result,  one  finds  that  when  in  con- 
crete life  a  case  arises  which  belongs  to 
the  class  of  experiences  which  has  been 
made  the  subject  of  such  communion  with 
the  Father,  one's  attitude  towards  that 
case  is  changed.  In  other  words  prayer 
of  this  sort  is  answered,  if  less  obviously 
and  directly,  no  less  satisfactorily  and 
surely,  than  prayer  which  offers  the  con- 
crete situation  of  the  immediate  moment 
directly  to  the  divine  control. 

These  essay-meditations,  or  sermon- 
prayers,  are  the  outcome  of  a  year  of  en- 
forced rest ;  cut  off  from  ordinary  work  on 
the  one  hand,  and  attendance  upon  public 
worship  on  the  other.  They  were  con- 
ceived in  the  gardens  and  chapels  of 
Oxford ;  and  written  in  Switzerland,  at 
Burghalde,  the  site  of  a  mediaeval  castle 

[7] 


Pref. 


ace 

near  Oberhofen  on  Lake  Thun,  If  they 
shall  reveal  to  any  one  the  simplicity 
and  comprehensiveness,  the  modesty  and 
grandeur,  the  peace  and  power,  of  the 
Christian  life,  my  period  of  exile  will 
not  have  been  unfruitful ;  I  shall  have 
proved  a  brother-workman  of  the  Swiss 
peasants  with  whom  I  exchanged  greet- 
ings as  we  met  on  the  way  to  our  different 
tasks  ;  and  Eiger,  Monk  and  Jungfrau  will 
not  have  reflected  to  my  castle-site  the 
Alpine  glow  in  vain. 

William  DeWitt  Hyde. 

Bowdoin  College^ 

Brunswick^  Maine, 
August^  igo8. 


[8] 


CONTENTS 

Father // 

Gratitude 14 

Sin 16 

Thorns 18 

Patience 20 

Enemies 22 

Forgiveness 24 

IVork 26 

Play 28 

Health 30 

Travel 32 

Faith 34 

Hope 36 

Love j5 

Family 40 

Duty 42 

Sacrifice .44 

Courage ,  46 

Humility 48 

Injustice 30 

Justice -52 

Temperance ^4 

Responsibility 36 

Wealth 38 

[9] 


Contents 

Society 60 

Country 62 

Judgment 64 

Bereavement 66 

Immortality ,68 

Charity 70 


[10] 


FATHER 

I  THANK  Thee  that  I  am  not  a 
stranger  in  an  alien  world ;  the 
sport  of  chance ;  the  slave  of  fate : 
but  a  child  in  an  ordered  home. 

I  cannot  see  Thee  in  any  finite  form  or 
locate  Thee  anywhere  in  space  and  time. 
Yet  in  the  adaptations  of  nature,  in  the  de- 
velopments of  history,  in  the  voice  of  con- 
science, in  the  lives  of  good  men,  in  the 
character  of  Christ,  I  discern  a  struggle  for 
fitness,  a  suggestion  of  beauty,  an  expres- 
sion of  reason,  a  tendency  towards  right- 
eousness, a  yearning  for  love,  which  stands 
over  me  as  an  authority,  rises  within  me  as 
an  ideal,  stretches  out  before  me  as  a  goal. 

How  shall  I  name  this  which  is  both 
without  as  law  and  within  as  ideal ;  at 
once  source  of  my  being  and  end  of 
my    life  ?     Not    matter,    or    force ;    for   I 


Father 

find  intelligence  and  purpose,  akin  to  my 
own,  but  infinite.  Not  image  or  idea  ;  for 
these  terms  are  contrasted  with  reality ; 
while  that  in  which  I  live  and  move  and 
have  my  being  is  solid  as  fact  and  real 
as  life. 

Let  me  then  call  Thee  by  the  highest 
symbol  of  guiding  wisdom ;  kindly  con- 
trol ;  larger  life  supporting,  reproving,  de- 
veloping the  lesser,  derived,  dependent 
life.  Let  me,  as  Jesus  taught  the  world  to 
do,  call  Thee  by  the  dear  human  name  of 
Father. 

Help  me  to  hear  Thy  high  and  holy 
call  in  every  homely  duty  and  every  hum- 
ble task :  in  the  drudgery  of  housekeep- 
ing ;  in  the  dreariness  of  accounts ;  in  the 
difficulty  of  study  ;  in  the  hardness  of  toil ; 
in  the  competition  of  trade  ;  in  the  claims 
of  society ;  in  the  fight  with  appetite  ;  in 
the  struggle  with  poverty  ;  in  the  manage- 
ment of  wealth  ;  in  the  love  of  friends  ;  in 
courtesy  to  foes.  In  all  the  common  ex- 
periences of  life  help  me  to  see  Thy  love 
going  before  me  to  point  out  the  way  my 

[12] 


Father 

love  must  take :  help  me  to  feel  Thy 
strength  within  me  making  hard  things 
easy,  and  translating  the  otherwise  im- 
possible into  accomplished  fact. 

Doing  all  things  as  Thou  wouldst  have 
me  do  them  ;  bearing  all  things  as  Thou 
wouldst  have  me  bear  them,  may  I  find 
Thee  where  alone  Thou  canst  be  found — 
in  Thy  world,  Lord  of  its  life,  Solver  of  its 
problems.  Saviour  from  its  sin. 

Teach  me,  then,  to  take  eagerly,  as  from 
a  Father's  hand,  every  healthy  human  in- 
terest ;  every  normal  social  pleasure  ;  every 
wholesome  practical  pursuit :  that  in  the 
beautiful  world  where  Thou  hast  placed 
me,  and  the  interesting  work  Thou  givest 
me  to  do,  I  may  ever  see  the  face  of  the 
Father,  and  live  the  life  of  a  child. 


[13] 


GRATITUDE 

I  THANK  Thee  for  this  glorious  world 
in  which  I  live  ;  for  mountain  and 
valley,  rock  and  soil,  forest  and  field, 
river  and  sea,  sun  and  rain,  flower  and 
fruit,  plant  and  animal. 

I  thank  Thee  for  the  great  social  in- 
stitutions built  like  walls  along  life's  high- 
way to  keep  my  feet  from  straying  into 
sin ;  home  and  school,  church  and  state, 
law  and  custom,  art  and  literature,  history 
and  science. 

I  thank  Thee  for  the  education  that 
comes  through  parents  and  teachers ; 
through  success  and  failure  ;  through  legal 
compulsion  and  social  expectation ;  through 
rewarded  right  and  punished  wrong. 

I  thank  Thee  for  the  men  and  women 
walking  by  my  side  along  the  dusty  road 
of  life  who  do  Thy  will  so  patiently,  so 
modestly,  so  sweetly  that  I  cannot  fail  to 
feel  its  charm. 

[14] 


Gratitude 

Most  of  all  I  thank  Thee  for  Jesus 
Christ ;  that  He  once  for  all  revealed  the 
eternal  supremacy  of  love,  truth,  and 
purity  over  hardness  and  brutality,  pride 
and  hypocrisy,  tyranny  and  superstition. 
I  thank  Thee  that  He  won  for  the  world 
this  spiritual  victory  when  it  meant  the 
crown  of  thorns,  the  scourging,  the  spear- 
point  and  the  cross. 

May  I  show  my  gratitude  by  the  good 
use  I  make  of  all  natural  resources ;  by 
my  appreciation  of  the  beautiful  in  nature 
and  in  art ;  by  my  obedience  to  all  just 
laws  and  beneficent  institutions  ;  by  strug- 
gling for  the  world's  improvement ;  by  re- 
buking its  injustices ;  by  helping  its  tried 
and  tempted  souls  ;  and  doing  all  in  my 
power  to  lead  men  in  the  direction  marked 
out  by  the  precept  and  example,  the  service 
and  sacrifice  of  Christ. 

Thus  may  I  show  Thy  goodness  to 
other  souls  ;  that  they  too  may  come  to 
the  glad  and  grateful  sense  of  being  sons 
and  daughters,  brothers  and  sisters,  in  the 
divine-human  family  and  home. 

[15] 


SIN 

POOR  and  perverse  has  been  my  use 
of  Thy  good  gifts.  Thy  will  is  per- 
fect love  to  all  Thy  children.  All 
that  falls  short  of  such  universal  love  is 
sin.     Yet  I  fall  short  all  the  time. 

In  hours  of  dullness  I  cannot  even  so 
much  as  see  Thy  will ;  much  less  feel  the 
promptings  of  Thy  love.  In  moments 
when  "passion  sweeps  through  me  uncon- 
trolled, I  spread  bitterness  and  sorrow  far 
and  wide  in  the  hearts  of  Thy  other  chil- 
dren. In  seasons  of  weakness  I  am  un- 
equal to  doing  the  duty  that  I  see.  In  fits 
of  excitement  I  do  not  stop  to  think  of  the 
cruel  misery  my  hasty  words  and  deeds  in- 
flict. In  periods  of  depression  I  give  up 
all  attempt  to  be  more  than  the  selfish 
animal  my  brute  inheritance  makes  it  so 
natural  for  me  to  be. 

Thus  opportunities  for  kindness  slip 
[16] 


Si 


n 


away  unimproved  ;  sad  hearts  are  left  un- 
comforted ;  wrongs  are  left  unrebuked  ; 
duties  are  left  undone  ;  the  world  is  the 
poorer ;  Thy  children  the  more  wretched 
for  what  I  fail  to  do. 

Worse  than  all  are  the  meanness,  the 
selfishness,  the  greed,  the  lust,  the  malice, 
the  jealousy,  the  pride  that  lead  me  to  gain 
for  myself  some  petty  pleasure  by  an- 
other's pain  ;  some  trifling  profit  by  an- 
other's loss  ;  some  gratification  of  passion, 
at  the  price  of  another's  degradation  ;  some 
miserable  gain  for  myself  and  my  family 
bought  by  corrupting  the  government; 
some  ignoble  sense  of  personal  elevation 
won  by  pulling  other  people  down. 

For  these  outcroppings  of  inherited 
animalism  ;  for  slothfulness  and  shirking  ; 
for  wanton  self-indulgence  in  reckless  sac- 
rifice of  others'  rights;  for  responsibility 
for  the  world's  sufferings  and  wrongs  ;  for- 
give me,  even  as  I  in  turn  forgive  those 
who  do  me  injury. 


[17] 


THORNS 

TO  each  child  of  Thine,  as  the  price 
of  the  sensitiveness  that  feels  Thy 
leading,  or  the  effectiveness  that 
does  Thy  will,  Thou  givest  some  thorn  to 
prick  the  surface  of  pride. 

Whether  it  be  quick  temper ;  intense 
passions  ;  extreme  shyness  ;  physical  de- 
fect ;  mental  dullness  ;  lack  of  early  advan- 
tages ;  uncongenial  relatives ;  unhappy 
marriage ;  a  wayward  child  ;  loss  of  for- 
tune ;  inability  to  get  work  ;  alienation  of 
friends  through  hopeless  misunderstand- 
ing, or  bereavement  tearing  up  the  very 
roots  of  the  soul ; — to  each  Thou  sendest 
his  thorn  ;  either  secretly  buried  in  the 
sensitive  flesh,  or  woven  into  a  crown  to 
be  worn  openly  upon  the  brow. 

Help  me  to  extract  from  mine  its  lesson 
of  humility.     If  it  unfits  me  for  the  large 

[l8] 


rho 


rns 


sphere  I  should  choose,  surely  Thou  hast 
some  modest  place  for  me  to  &11,  some 
humble  task  for  me  to  do,  with  which  my 
defects,  my  misfortunes,  my  blunders,  even 
my  repented  sins  cannot  wholly  interfere. 
Help  me  to  take  it  cheerfully ;  leav- 
ing to  others  the  larger  service  I  forego. 

Grant  that  my  own  secret  sorrow,  my 
own  keen  disappointment,  may  make  me 
sympathetic  to  discover,  tactful  to  treat,  the 
suffering  that  Hes,  hidden  or  exposed,  in 
every  human  heart. 

Thus  even  through  sorrow,  merited  or 
unmerited,  may  I  be  drawn  closer  to  Thee, 
closer  to  the  suffering  Christ,  closer  to  my 
needy  fellow  men.  Through  a  deeper 
tenderness,  a  profounder  humility,  a 
broader  charity,  a  gender  helpfulness  may 
I  find  in  the  heightened  joy  of  the  devoted 
spirit  abundant  compensation  for  the  suf- 
ferings of  the  outward  man. 


[19] 


PATIENCE 

THOUSANDS  of  centuries  Thou 
hast  waited  for  the  little  good 
thus  far  achieved  upon  this  earth. 
For  Thou  lovest  the  partial  good  painfully 
wrought  out  in  freedom  more  than  the 
greatest  mechanical  perfection.  Thou 
hast  trusted  the  welfare  of  Thy  children  to 
their  own  weak,  erring  hands.  For  ages, 
in  brutal  sensuality  and  barbaric  cruelty, 
they  have  worked  havoc  upon  each  other, 
and  brought  shame  upon  themselves. 
Even  now  millions  of  Thy  children  are 
plunged  in  hopeless  degradation.  All 
around  us,  even  in  the  most  civilized  races 
and  the  most  cultivated  lands,  the  lives  of 
those  we  know  and  love  are  embittered  by 
unconquered  animalism  in  themselves,  or 
surviving  brutality  in  others. 

When  I  join  with  others  of  like  mind  in 
efforts  to  do  a  little  good,  our  labours  are 

[20] 


P  atience 

thwarted  by  our  own  weakness,  by  the 
powers  of  evil,  or  by  the  indifference  of 
those  worst  enemies  of  progress — the  peo- 
ple who  think  themselves  and  the  world 
good  enough  already. 

In  the  face  of  difficulty,  discouragement, 
misunderstanding,  misrepresentation,  help 
me  to  go  on  doing  my  best  in  patient  per- 
severance ;  even  though  the  only  visible 
outcome  is  the  continued  victory  of  evil. 
Give  me  the  assurance  that  every  good  as 
well  as  every  evil  influence  counts  ;  and  that 
the  resultant  shall  represent  all  the  forces 
put  forth  on  both  sides,  of  which  my  effort 
for  the  right  is  one.  Thus  may  I  play  an  ap- 
parently losing  game  as  steadily  and  bravely 
as  one  where  I  appear  to  win:  knowing  that 
Thou  art  on  the  side  of  the  good  ;  that  good 
has  a  uniting,  lasting,  spreading,  reproduc- 
ing, conquering  power  evil  can  never  have. 

Toiling  in  Thy  patience  and  Thy  per- 
severance, may  I  share,  even  in  the  strug- 
gle, Thy  triumph  and  Thy  peace. 


[21] 


ENEMIES 

FATHER  of  all ;  we  all  are  dear  to 
Thee.  Yet  we  are  selfish,  short- 
sighted, petty,  continually  tempted 
to  be  mean.  Partly  through  my  fault ; 
partly  through  the  fault  of  others,  I  clash 
with  them,  and  they  with  me ;  and  they 
become  my  enemies. 

In  so  far  as  their  enmity  is  due  to  any 
fault  of  mine,  may  I  promptly  humble  my- 
self, ask  their  forgiveness,  and  do  my  best 
to  make  amends.  May  I  count  no  humili- 
ation or  sacrifice  too  great  a  price  to  pay 
for  the  restoration  of  good-will  wherever 
by  any  act  of  mine,  whether  of  omission  or 
commission,  it  has  been  forfeited.  May  I 
remember  that  I  cannot  be  right  with  Thee, 
so  long  as  I  am  wrong  towards  any  of 
Thy  children. 

When  others  are  at  fault ;  when  they 
hate  me  without  cause  ;  when  they  persist 
in  wronging  me ;  when  they  misrepresent 
as  evil  the  good  I  try  to  do ;  while  I  de- 

[22] 


Knemies 


fend  my  rights  with  firmness,  may  I  be 
free  from  personal  bitterness.  May  I  never 
forget  that  my  enemy  is  more  than  his 
wrong  attitude  towards  me ;  may  I  re- 
member that  he  is  Thy  child,  my  brother  ; 
still  has  some  good  qualities,  and  is  capa- 
ble of  more.  Thus  even  when  compelled 
to  oppose  him,  may  I  in  courtesy  and  kind- 
ness show  myself  a  friend  to  his  better 
self ;  and  win  or  at  least  deserve  the  resto- 
ration of  his  esteem. 

While  thus  friendly  even  to  my  enemies, 
and  peaceable  with  all  men,  when  duty  re- 
quires may  I  not  shrink  from  making  ene- 
mies. When  the  cruel  oppress  the  inno- 
cent ;  when  the  dishonest  cheat  the  poor  ; 
when  the  strong  trample  on  the  weak ; 
when  the  incompetent  hold  office  ;  when 
the  licentious  break  down  the  family  ;  when 
the  corrupt  undermine  the  state  ; — then 
may  I  be  bold  to  rebuke,  to  prosecute,  to 
punish ;  welcoming  their  enmity  as  the 
price  every  brave  man  must  pay,  as  Christ 
paid  it,  for  living  Thy  life  and  doing  Thy 
will  in  a  world  of  selfishness  and  sin. 

[23] 


FORGIVENESS 

FATHER,  Thou  forgivest  me,  so  far 
as  I  am  truly  penitent.  May  I  like- 
wise forgive  all  who  sin  against 
me ;  all  who  sin  against  society ;  all  who 
sin  against  Thee ;  even  as  Thou  forgivest 
me  and  them. 

Help  me  to  remember  that  the  great 
evils  are  not  wrought  in  deliberate  malice, 
but  in  unimaginative  selfishness ;  in  wrath, 
greed  and  lust.  Finding  the  survivals  of 
savagery  and  animality  within  myself,  may 
I  have  charity  for  the  outbreaks  of  these 
hereditary  traits  in  others,  who  perchance 
have  had  less  help  than  I  from  home, 
school,  society,  moral  influence  and  spirit- 
ual inspiration.  May  I  count  no  sin  too 
heinous  to  pardon ;  no  man  too  hardened 
to  reclaim  ;  no  woman  too  fallen  to  uplift. 

When  I  forgive  the  penitent,  help  me  to 
stand  by  him  against  a  hard  and  unforgiv- 
ing world.     Help  me  in  sacrificial   sym- 

[24] 


Forgiveness 

pathy  to  bear  with  him  the  penalties 
formal  justice  may  deem  it  necessary  to  in- 
flict, and  to  share  with  him  the  condem- 
nation a  merciless  public  is  ever  ready  to 
impose.  Thus  may  I  make  my  forgive- 
ness a  reality  in  the  actual  world,  and  open 
the  door  of  genuine  social  restoration  to 
those  who  have  gone  astray. 

Yet  may  I  not  lose  sight  of  moral  dis- 
tinctions in  a  mush  of  sentimentality. 
When  public  protection  requires  the  pun- 
ishment of  the  criminal ;  the  correction  of 
the  depraved ;  the  discharge  of  the  ineffi- 
cient ;  the  prosecution  of  the  dishonest ; 
the  exposure  of  the  corrupt,  may  I  be  stern 
and  hard  towards  them,  even  while  I  have 
in  my  heart  the  tenderest  charity  for  the 
men  I  cause  to  suffer,  and  in  whose  suffer- 
ing I  sympathetically  share. 

Thus  may  I  in  my  little  world,  as  Thou 
in  Thy  great  universe,  blend  severest  justice 
with  gentlest  mercy;  inexorable  penalty 
with  absolute  forgiveness  ;  inflicting  pain 
unflinchingly  when  love  prescribes  it  for  so- 
ciety's protection  and  the  offender's  good. 

[25] 


WORK 

I  THANK  Thee  for  sunshine  with  its 
stored  up  heat  in  wood  and  coal ;  for 
the  power  in  falling  water,  expanding 
steam,  and  electricity ;  for  timber  and  min- 
erals ;  for  wool  and  cotton,  silk  and  linen ; 
for  meat  and  grain,  fruit  and  vegetable. 

Still  more  I  thank  Thee  that  the  final 
touch  which  transforms  these  materials 
into  use,  and  gives  to  each  his  share  in  the 
produce  of  the  whole  world's  work  at  the 
time  and  place  where  it  is  wanted — that 
agriculture,  manufacture,  transportation 
and  exchange  are  left  to  be  furnished  by 
the  hand  and  brain  of  man. 

Help  me  to  find  my  chief  delight  in 
work,  wherein  I  join  my  hand,  my  brain, 
my  heart,  to  Thy  power.  Thy  laws,  Thy 
love.  May  I  choose  that  task  which  most 
taxes  my  highest  powers,  and  best  serves 
the  world's  deepest  need.     May  I   do   it 

[26] 


Work 

with  such  skill,  such  thoroughness,  such 
joy,  that  it  shall  have  about  it  the  strength 
of  the  mountains,  the  freedom  of  the 
streams,  the  gladness  of  the  sunshine,  the 
fertility  of  the  fields,  the  beauty  of  the  stars 
and  flowers.  Thus  may  I  become  not  a 
mere  creature  but  a  creator ;  not  one  of 
Thy  works,  but  one  of  Thy  coworkers. 

Help  me  to  do  good,  full-measured 
work,  when  poor,  scant  work  brings 
equal  pay.  May  I  give  a  full  equivalent 
for  all  I  take  ;  add  to  the  world's  wealth  as 
much  as  I  consume ;  and  be  a  sound 
member  of  the  economic  order.  May  I 
be  fair  to  my  employer,  whether  he  treats 
me  well  or  ill  ;  considerate  to  my  em- 
ployees, whether  they  love  or  hate  me ; 
loyal  to  my  fellow-workmen  whether  they 
stand  by  me  or  not ;  just  to  those  remote 
consumers  of  my  product  who  will  never 
know  to  whose  honesty  and  honour  they 
owe  the  sound  quality  of  the  goods  I  make 
and  the  services  I  render  them. 


[27] 


PLAY 

THOUGH  it  is  honest  work  that 
gives  me  my  place  in  Thy  great 
universe ;  yet  what  I  can  do  is  so 
little,  what  I  can  do  well  is  so  monot- 
onous, that  when  I  devote  myself  to 
work  alone  I  become  a  mere  pin-point  in 
Thy  mighty  mechanism :  I  lose  tone  of 
nerves,  resourcefulness  of  mind,  decisive- 
ness of  will,  range  of  imagination,  quick- 
ness of  sympathy:  I  offer  my  friends,  I 
hand  down  to  my  children,  a  shrivelled 
heart  and  a  deadened  mind. 

Therefore  I  thank  Thee  for  the  great 
privilege  of  play :  for  the  sports  that  take 
me  to  the  field,  the  forest,  the  river  and 
the  sea :  for  the  games  that  call  out  cour- 
age, endurance,  skill,  in  friendly  contests, 
physical  and  mental.  I  thank  Thee  for 
the  ordered  play  of  mind  and  soul  in  art : 
for  architecture,  sculpture  and  painting; 
for  music  and  poetry ;  for  the  novel  and 

[28] 


Play 

the  drama :  for  the  power  they  have  to  set 
before  us  beauty  and  harmony  ;  to  inter- 
pret love  and  heroism  ;  to  take  us  into  the 
intense,  typical  experiences  of  humanity, 
and  send  us  back  to  our  individual  lives, 
enlarged,  enriched ;  with  a  clearer  vision 
of  the  noble  ;  a  truer  scorn  of  what  is  base. 

At  the  same  time  save  me  from  making 
play  the  end  of  life,  to  the  distaste  of  work, 
and  the  neglect  of  duty.  Save  me  from 
the  base  desire  to  gain  in  play  what  others 
lose.  Save  me  from  all  pleasure  that  in- 
volves loss,  pain  or  degradation  to  another. 
May  work  and  play  in  healthy  alternation 
become  expressions  of  my  joy  in  using  the 
powers  Thou  hast  given  me,  and  my  delight 
in  the  world  which  Thou  hast  made. 

Help  me  to  keep  on  gaining  new  inter- 
ests through  life ;  and  carry  the  child's 
heart  into  old  age.  Grant  me  the  strong 
constitution,  the  cheerful  disposition,  the 
steady  will,  the  sympathetic  heart  which 
are  play's  appropriate  gifts  :  that  I  may  be 
what  Thou  wouldst  have  me  be,  as  well  as 
do  what  Thou  wouldst  have  me  do. 


HEALTH 

THOU  hast  made  health  the  normal 
condition  of  every  child  of  obedi- 
ent parents,  who  himself  obeys 
Thy  laws  of  diet,  exercise,  rest,  recreation, 
cheerfulness,  trust,  and  love.  Teach  me 
to  obey  these  laws ;  and,  when  I  disobey, 
to  profit  by  the  swift,  sure  penalty  which 
mercifully  follows. 

Save  me  from  the  folly  of  treating  the 
bodily  symptoms  which  spring  from  spirit- 
ual sins  by  drugs,  opiates,  narcotics  and 
intoxicants ;  in  a  futile  endeavour  to  call 
in  matter  and  mechanism  to  make  good 
defects  of  mind  and  heart.  May  I  cure 
gluttony  by  temperance;  idleness  by  ex- 
ercise ;  overwork  by  rest ;  anger  by  gen- 
tleness ;  worry  by  trust ;  depression  by 
hope  ;  fear  by  faith  ;  hate  by  love. 

Yet  when  accident,  exposure,  or  over- 
strain has  broken  or  deranged  the  normal 

[30] 


Health 

structure  or  working  of  my  body  ;  when 
contagion  has  introduced  hostile  organisms 
and  noxious  substances  into  my  blood  ; 
then  may  I  treat  broken  bones  and  depleted 
tissues  as  I  would  a  broken  bridge  or  a 
washed-out  road-bed,  by  appropriate  ma- 
terial means ;  then  may  I  fight  bacteria 
with  physical  weapons,  as  I  would  wolves 
and  lions. 

In  this  fight  may  I  use  with  gratitude  all 
the  aids  of  medical  skill  and  science  Thou 
hast  placed  within  reach ;  honouring  the 
men  whose  study  and  practice  of  this  benefi- 
cent art  make  victory  possible,  where  without 
it  defeat  would  be  probable  or  inevitable. 

Thus  with  mind  and  heart  rightly  re- 
lated to  Thee  ;  to  Thy  laws ;  and  to  the 
people  with  whom  I  live  and  work  ;  with 
the  aid  in  emergencies  of  scientific  medi- 
cine ;  may  I  be  doubly  fortified  against 
disease:  may  I  be  blessed  with  that 
abounding  health  which  is  the  secret  of 
individual  happiness  and  social  usefulness. 


[31] 


TRAVEL 

WHEN  I  remain  too  long  at  home 
my  own  importance  swells  to 
unseemly  proportions,  and  the 
vision  of  Thy  greatness  fades.  Then 
may  I  leave  the  spot  where  I  have  come 
to  fancy  myself  the  centre  of  a  little  world, 
and  humbly  accept  some  place  on  the 
circumference  of  Thy  great  universe. 
Then  may  I  behold  Thy  glory  on  the 
mountain  and  the  sea ;  feel  Thy  quiet  by 
the  forest  or  the  lake ;  trace  Thy  justice 
as  other  men  and  nations  have  expressed 
it  in  customs  and  institutions  different 
from  my  own ;  gaze  on  beauty  as  Thou 
hast  wrought  it  into  the  forms  of  nature 
and  the  features  of  men  and  women  ;  or 
as  genius  has  reflected  it  in  art. 

Yet  forbid  that  I  degenerate  into  the 
chronic  traveller  ;  living  only  to  be  sump- 
tuously fed,  softly  bedded,  periodically 
transported,  and  perpetually  amused. 

[32] 


Tr avel 

May  I  strictly  subordinate  the  brief  days 
of  travel  to  long  weeks  of  life  and  work  at 
home ;  ever  going  for  the  sake  of  the 
healthier,  stronger,  wiser,  happier  return. 
While  viewing  the  works  of  other  men 
may  I  ever  be  planning  the  improvement 
of  my  own  ;  justifying  temporary  absence 
from  my  specific  duties  by  the  increased 
vigour  and  enthusiasm  with  which  they 
are  resumed. 

Even  when  the  old  ties  of  home  and 
family  are  broken ;  when  the  scale  of 
living  must  be  reduced  to  match  decreas- 
ing income,  may  I  refuse  to  be  a  run- 
away ;  but  count  the  humblest  usefulness 
at  home  more  honourable  than  the  most 
luxurious  idleness  of  exile. 

Going  and  coming,  at  home  and  abroad, 
may  I  everywhere  be  Thy  grateful  and 
obedient  child ;  remembering  that  con- 
templation of  Thy  works  must  prove  its 
worth  by  the  constancy  with  which  I  fill 
the  place  where  Thou  hast  put  me,  and 
the  fidelity  with  which  I  do  the  specific 
work  Thou  hast  given  me  to  do. 

[33] 


FAITH 

GIVE  me  the  faith  that  dares  to 
doubt  all  that  refuses  to  take  its 
place  in  a  coherent  whole  of  his- 
tory and  science  ;  all  that  declines  to  justify 
its  claims  in  reason's  open  court.  For 
reason  in  me  and  other  men  is  the  reflec- 
tion of  that  complete  reason  which  is  Thy 
mind.  Distrusting  reason,  I  deny  Thee: 
following  reason  to  the  uttermost  I  affirm 
my  faith  that  mind  in  me  is  akin  to  infinite 
intelligence  in  Thee. 

Yet  while  nothing  that  contradicts  my 
reason  can  be  true,  Thy  experience  infi- 
nitely transcends  mine;  and  what  seems  evil 
from  my  partial  point  of  view,  may  serve  a 
good  purpose  in  Thy  larger  plan. 

Seeing  the  seeming  cruelty  in  natural  se- 
lection, yet  may  I  believe  that  with  all  its 
penalties  of  pain  and  death  this  law  is  in- 
finitely kinder  than  sentimental  interven- 

[34] 


Faith 

tion  to  save  the  unfit,  if  indeed  the  survival 
of  the  unfit  were  permanently  possible. 

Seeing  the  favouritism,  bribery,  corrup- 
tion that  beset  all  forms  of  human  govern- 
ment ;  all  business  where  one  individual  or 
group  controls  the  fortunes  of  many ;  may 
I  still  accept  political  and  industrial  organ- 
izations as  Thy  appointed  servants,  im- 
perfect to  be  sure,  but  vastly  better  than 
anarchy  and  individualism. 

Seeing  the  brutality  that  has  blighted  the 
family  from  the  days  of  the  savage  even  un- 
til now,  may  I  still  believe  in  its  sacredness, 
and  labour  for  its  perpetuity. 

Seeing  the  abuses,  iniquities,  hypocrisies 
and  crimes  of  which  the  world  is  full,  may  I 
see  also,  not  in  them,  but  in  the  lives  of 
the  reformers  who  fight  them  ;  in  the  deaths 
of  the  martyrs  who  are  slain  by  them  ;  in  the 
cross  of  the  Christ  who  was  willing  to  be 
crucified  to  save  the  world  from  them,  and 
lift  men  out  of  their  power,  the  immortal 
witness  to  the  eternal  triumph  of  Thy 
righteousness  and  love. 

[35] 


HOPE 

THE  vision  of  faith  fades :  the 
triumph  of  the  good  is  long  de- 
ferred :  reform  is  defeated  :  prog- 
ress is  slow :  disaster  falls :  degeneration 
sets  in.  Criticism  shows  that  even  our 
saints  and  heroes  were  men  of  like  passions 
with  ourselves ;  idealized  by  time,  distance 
and  human  admiration. 

Passing  from  the  warm  atmosphere  of 
faith  into  the  hard,  cold  world  of  fact,  a 
chill  strikes  to  the  heart  of  all  my  cherished 
convictions  ;  and  they  vanish  into  empty 
dreams.  Business,  politics,  society,  educa- 
tion, even  religion,  seem  to  be  in  the  hands 
of  men  who  see  nothing  higher  than  profit 
and  popularity,  or  at  best  tradition  and 
convention.  The  opportunist  defeats  the 
statesman;  the  fraudulent  contractor  and 
dishonest  promoter  drive  the  honest  dealer 
and  the  upright  business  man  to  the  wall ; 
polite  pretentiousness  takes  precedence  of 
genuine  worth  in  marriage  and  social  posi- 

[36] 


Hope 

tion  ;  the  charlatan  draws  the  crowd  from 
the  skilled  professional  man  ;  the  self-seek- 
ing priest  sits  in  the  seat  of  the  prophet. 

When  such  observations  weigh  me  down, 
give  me  the  hope  that  sees  through  pres- 
ent evil  the  sure  triumph  of  the  coming 
good.  Show  me  that  these  evils  always 
have  been  ;  are  less  now  than  ever  before  ; 
and  in  spite  of  them  better  conditions,  larger 
liberties,  happier  homes,  higher  characters, 
nobler  institutions,  have  steadily  evolved. 
Give  me  the  assurance  that,  in  ways  I  can- 
not comprehend,  Thy  love  will  work  good 
out  of  evil.  Help  me  to  live  in  constant 
foretaste  of  the  better  order  my  faith  and 
hope  and  love  shall  help  to  usher  in. 

Yet  save  me  from  the  folly  that  would 
keep  out  evil  by  shutting  its  own  silly  eyes. 
May  I  hope  for  a  good,  not  apart  from 
evil ;  not  won  without  struggle  ;  not  mirac- 
ulously projected  into  this  world,  or  super- 
naturally  set  up  in  the  next :  but  for  a  good 
wrought  out  in  struggle  against  evil  by 
willing  hands,  and  sturdy  wills,  and  loving 
hearts. 

[37] 


LOVE 

I  THANK  Thee  that  Thou  hast  divided 
our  common  nature  between  man  and 
woman ;  giving  to  the  one  strength, 
courage,  organizing  power;  to  the  other 
beauty,  patience,  gentleness ;  that  these 
severed  qualities  may  be  reunited  in  that 
love  which  gives  all  one  has  to  the  other, 
and  claims  all  the  other's  graces  as  one's 
own. 

I  thank  Thee  for  the  bond  of  marriage 
which  seals  this  mutual  affection  into  life- 
long devotion,  and  perpetuates  it  in  off- 
spring. May  I  think  and  speak  of  this 
relationship  wherein  we  share  Thy  creative 
power,  ever  with  reverence  and  honour ; 
never  with  levity  or  shame. 

Thou  hast  intrusted  this  holy  office  of 
creative  love  to  the  coarse  hands  of  men 
and  the  frail  hearts  of  women ;  and  wan- 
tonly have  they  perverted  it.  Thou  only 
knowest  the  beastliness  and  cruelty,  the 
bitterness  and  agony,  the  sin  and  shame, 

[38] 


Lo 


ve 


the  despair  and  degradation  the  perversion 
ot  this  function  has  entailed. 

Make  me  considerate  and  kind  to  all  on 
whom  the  penalties  of  this  perversion  fall ; 
especially  to  the  wretched  women  who, 
through  ignorance,  misplaced  affection,  or 
cruel  wrong,  have  been  driven  to  lives  of 
shame.  May  I  blame  more  the  barbarous 
society  that  tolerates  and  patronizes  such 
human  degradation  than  the  unhappy 
women  who  fall. 

May  I  resist  all  tendencies  to  soften  man 
into  effeminacy,  or  harden  woman  into  a 
competitor  with  man.  May  I  hold  the  dif- 
ference between  the  sexes  as  the  crowning 
evidence  of  Thy  creative  love  ;  and  cherish 
the  lifelong  union  in  mutual  affection  of 
one  man  and  one  woman  as  the  supreme 
blessedness  of  life. 

May  this  love  be  so  deep  and  sweet  and 
pure,  that  it  shall  overflow  into  intimate 
friendship  with  other  men  and  women ; 
into  fondness  for  little  children  ;  banishing 
all  jealousy  and  selfishness,  and  ushering 
in  the  reign  of  universal  love. 

[39] 


FAMILT 

FATHER  of  all :  I  thank  Thee  for  the 
common  life  of  the  family  flowing 
freely  through  each  member's 
heart ;  bringing  diversity  of  age,  sex,  ex- 
perience, strength,  wisdom,  beauty,  inno- 
cence, vivacity,  charm,  as  an  offering  to 
each  and  the  property  of  all.  Help  me 
gladly  to  give  up  all  merely  private  inter- 
ests so  far  as  they  conflict  with  the  com- 
mon life  ;  counting  the  least  I  can  do  for 
my  family  more  precious  than  the  greatest 
pleasure  to  be  found  apart  from  them. 

May  I  leave  other  members  free  to  make 
their  contribution  to  the  family  life  in  their 
own  way  ;  using  constraint  only  with  the 
very  young,  who  have  not  learned  the 
sweet  law  of  love  which  binds  the  conduct 
of  each  to  the  service  of  all. 

May  I  cheerfully  endure  the  drudgery 
and  privation,  the  clash  of  taste  and  tem- 
perament, which  the  moulding  of  many  into 
one  in  this  intimate  relationship  involves. 

[40] 


Family 

Teach  me  at  the  same  time  love's  larger 
lesson,  that  as  the  individual  gains  his 
true  life  in  the  family  by  giving  up  his 
selfish  life  ;  so  the  family  gains  by  every 
pure  intimate  friendship,  every  noble  artis- 
tic interest,  every  generous  social  service 
in  which  parent  or  child,  husband  or  wife, 
shares  and  serves  the  larger  life  outside. 

Even  if  circumstances  do  not  permit  me 
to  enter  this  holiest  bond,  may  I  revere  it ; 
and  cherish  it  for  others.  Having  once  en- 
tered it,  may  I  never  relapse  into  the  old 
selfish  attitude  ;  never  again  estimate  profit 
and  loss  in  the  old  individualistic  terms. 
May  I  give  all ;  finding  in  opportunity  for 
larger  giving  my  chief  return. 

Only  when  cruelty,  lust,  drunkenness  or 
settled  hate  make  love  impossible,  beyond 
the  power  of  patience  and  charity  to  re- 
store, may  I  either  for  myself  or  for  an- 
other, turn  to  divorce  for  such  relief  from 
intolerable  degradation  as  the  law,  in  the 
interest  of  the  decency  and  dignity  of  true 
marriage,  mercifully  grants. 

[41] 


Durr 

I  THANK  Thee  for  the  place  where 
Thou  hast  put  me ;  with  persons  on 
every  side  whom  I  must  either  serve 
or  injure ;  work  which  I  must  do  either 
well  or  ill ;  things  I  must  either  beautify 
or  mar.  It  is  at  once  Thy  will  and  my 
duty  to  treat  these  persons  so  kindly ;  to 
do  this  work  so  well ;  to  order  these 
things  so  nicely,  that  happiness,  goodness, 
beauty  shall  be  the  harmonious  result. 

Help  me  to  contribute  with  joy  my  little 
part  to  Thy  vast  harmony.  When  my 
little  plans  clash  with  Thy  larger  purposes, 
may  I  gladly  give  up  my  personal  prefer- 
ence to  serve  Thy  mighty  aims ;  and  find 
therein  not  hardship,  but  a  dear  delight. 
Yet  save  me  from  the  fanaticism  that 
would  take  on  duties  beyond  my  strength. 
Modestly  contrasting  my  limitations  with 
Thy  infinity,  may  I  confine  myself  to  the 

[42] 


Duty 

tasks  Thou  shalt  clearly  lay  upon  me,  and 
at  the  same  time  give  me  strength  to  do. 

As  duty  faithfully  and  lovingly  per- 
formed is  my  own  highest  good,  may  I 
count  it  the  best  thing  I  can  provide  for  my 
family,  my  children,  my  friends.  May  I  not 
in  false  self-sacrifice  do  so  much  for  them, 
and  so  shield  them,  as  to  deprive  them  of 
their  highest  privilege  and  best  education 
— the  doing  of  their  own  hard  duties  in 
the  loving  spirit  which  takes  away  their 
hardness  and  transforms  them  into  joy. 

When  duties  clash  ;  when  I  can  do  but 
one  of  the  things  I  feel  I  ought  to  do  ; 
then  may  I  be  fair  both  to  others  and  to 
myself.  May  I  ask  which  duty,  in  the 
same  circumstances,  I  would  advise  my 
best  friend  to  do  :  may  I  do  that  decisively ; 
without  regrets  for  what  is  left  undone : 
knowing  that  what  I  would  advise  another 
whom  I  love  is,  so  far  as  I  can  ascertain 
it,  what  Thy  love  would  have  me  choose 
and  do. 


[43] 


SACRIFICE 

FATHER,  Thy  perfection  is  not  the 
perfection  of  a  finished  thing ;  but 
the  perfection  of  a  living  person  ; 
the  perfection  of  a  love  that  seeks  through 
struggle,  opposition,  suffering,  the  best 
that  human  freedom  working  with  natural 
resources  can  achieve. 

In  calling  me  to  share  this  perfect  pur- 
pose. Thou  often  requirest  me  to  give  up 
what  would  be  good  for  me  as  an  indi- 
vidual, that  I  may  do  more  for  the  good  of 
others  and  the  welfare  of  Thy  world. 

Help  me  so  to  see  the  beauty  of  Thy 
life,  so  to  feel  the  drawing  of  Thy  love, 
that  I  may  gladly  make  the  sacrifices  love 
requires ;  ever  remembering  that  my 
brothers  and  sisters  are  as  dear  to  Thee  as 
I ;  and  that  I  am  Thy  true  child  only  so 
far  as  I  share  Thy  love  for  them. 

When  they  are  in  poverty  or  sickness ; 
when  they  are  downtrodden  or  maltreated ; 

[44] 


Sacrifice 

when  my  family  needs  me ;  when  my 
country  calls  ;  when  great  public  issues  are 
at  stake ;  when  truth  needs  an  interpreter, 
or  right  a  defender ;  then  may  I  freely  give 
time,  strength,  money,  influence ;  if  need 
be  health,  and  life  itself,  to  the  larger 
work ;  finding  in  the  greater  gain  to  my 
brothers,  in  the  benefit  of  society,  and  in 
fellowship  with  Thee,  such  ample  compen- 
sation as  shall  make  the  yoke  of  service 
easy,  and  the  burden  of  sacrifice  light. 

At  the  same  time  save  me  from  making 
sacrifice  an  end  in  itself,  or  seeking  it  as  a 
means  of  securing  Thy  favour.  I  am  as 
dear  to  Thee  as  are  those  I  serve :  Thou 
delightest  not  in  sacrifice  as  such ;  but 
only  in  the  love  it  springs  from  and  the 
good  it  does. 

Since  I  am  responsible  for  my  own 
health,  happiness,  efficiency  and  develop- 
ment as  no  one  else  can  be,  may  every  sac- 
rifice I  make  be  justified  by  some  greater 
good  done  to  others  in  fulfillment  of  Thy 
equal  love  to  them  and  me. 

[45] 


COURAGE 

GIVE  me  the  courage  never  to  be 
content  with  things  as  they  are, 
or  myself  as  I  am  ;  but  ever  to 
welcome  Thy  call  to  progress  and  reform. 

I  like  to  do  things  I  can  do  easily  be- 
cause I  have  done  them  before :  Thou 
art  ever  calling  me  to  do  new  things,  for 
which  I  have  no  ready-made  aptitude.  I 
like  to  do  things  which  everybody  will 
approve,  because  they  are  familiar  :  Thou 
art  ever  calling  me  to  do  new  things  which 
the  good  misunderstand  and  the  evil 
misinterpret.  I  like  to  do  things  that 
succeed,  because  the  world  wants  them : 
Thou  art  ever  calling  me  to  do  new  things 
for  which  the  world  is  not  quite  ready,  and 
therefore  at  the  outset  are  doomed  to  fail. 
Give  me  the  brave  heart  to  rise  above  the 
cowardice  men  call  conservatism,  and  obey 
Thy  call. 

Teach  me  that  only  by  attempting  what 
seems   impossible   can   power   be   gained 

[46] 


Courage 


or  great  good  accomplished  ;  that  only  by 
disregarding  at  times  the  praise  and  blame 
of  men  can  Thy  voice  be  heard  aright ; 
that  only  by  risking  occasional  defeat  in 
minor  battles  can  the  great  campaign  be 
won. 

Still  save  me  from  arrogance,  foolhardi- 
ness  and  fanaticism.  Thou  art  a  General 
considerate  of  Thy  soldiers.  Make  me 
content  with  the  work  of  one  man,  for 
which  Thou  hast  given  me  strength  ;  not 
falsely  ambitious  to  do  the  work  of  ten. 
Give  me  Thy  patience  with  such  wrongs 
as  I  am  powerless  to  remove. 

Help  me  to  keep  in  training  and  con- 
dition ;  cheerful  in  the  monotony  of  daily 
drill ;  yielding  neither  to  my  own  restless- 
ness nor  the  rash  importunity  of  others ; 
waiting  under  arms  for  Thy  command. 

When  Thy  clear  orders  come  ;  doubly 
attested  by  manifest  duty  without,  and  the 
stirring  of  latent  power  within  ;  then  may 
I  have  the  courage  which  implicitly  obeys  ; 
counts  no  cost  and  fears  no  foe ;  and 
leaves  results  entirely  in  Thy  hands. 

[47] 


HUMiLirr 

MAY  I  ever  measure  myself  by  the 
distance  I  fall  short  of  that  per- 
fect love  which  is  at  once  what 
Thou  art,  and  what  I  ought  to  be.  Though 
measured  by  this  true  standard  I  am  al- 
most wholly  wanting ;  yet  may  I  not  be 
cast  down. 

For  when  I  confess  my  weakness,  then 
through  Thy  grace  am  I  strong.  For 
Thou  art  ever  patient  with  me,  as  a  father 
with  the  unfulfilled  promise  of  his  child. 
I  am  dear  to  Thee,  not  mainly  for  the 
little  that  I  do  aright ;  but  for  my  peni- 
tence after  doing  wrong  ;  for  my  desire  to 
do  better  ;  for  what  in  due  time  with  Thy 
help  I  shall  become. 

Help  me  to  keep  this  humility  I  learn 
from  Thee  in  my  attitude  towards  my 
fellow  men.  May  I  never  try  to  pass 
with  them  as  better  than  Thou  seest  me  to 

[48] 


Humility 

be.  May  I  esteem  them  better  than  myself ; 
having  reverence  and  tenderness  for  all ; 
pride  and  uncharitableness  towards  none. 

With  friends  whom  I  can  trust  may  I  be 
frank  about  my  shortcomings  as  I  am  with 
Thee.  Especially  in  the  home,  and  those 
intimate  friendships  where  concealment  is 
impossible,  may  I  welcome  the  light  love 
sheds  on  my  faults ;  welcome  even  the 
pain  love  inflicts  in  healing  surgery. 

When  enemies  and  censorious  critics 
detect  me  in  some  fault,  and  try  to  break 
me  down ;  then  may  the  humility  I  have 
learned  from  Thee  become  my  armour  and 
defense.  Knowing  how  light  are  their 
worst  charges  in  comparison  to  what  Thou 
knowest  against  me,  and  in  spite  of  know- 
ing still  forgivest,  still  lovest;  may  I  be 
strong  in  the  confidence  that  no  weakness 
acknowledged,  no  fault  confessed,  no  mis- 
take corrected,  no  sin  repented,  can  ever 
separate  me  from  Thee,  or  from  the  friends 
Thou  givest  to  all  who  walk  in  true  humility. 


[49] 


INJUSTICE 

HELP  me  to  face  the  fact  of  obvious 
injustice  in  the  tangled  external 
world.  Crime  for  the  most  part 
goes  unpunished ;  wrong  unredressed. 
Our  lame  and  tardy  justice  overtakes  only 
the  simpler  sort  of  rascals  who  happen  also 
to  be  fools.  The  dishonest  director,  the 
fraudulent  promoter,  who  spread  poverty 
over  thousands  of  homes,  live  in  luxurious 
wealth,  envied  and  admired.  The  seducer, 
the  patronizer  of  prostitution,  wrecks  a 
whole  life,  or  degrades  a  whole  class  of 
women,  yet  passes  as  respectable.  The 
scandal-monger  ruins  reputation ;  yet  is 
tolerated  in  good  society. 

So  interrelated  are  the  forces  of  the 
world  ;  so  interwoven  are  the  lives  of  men  ; 
so  vast  are  the  evils  that  flow  from  small 
sources ;  so  free  are  best  and  worst  alike  to 
meddle  with  the  delicate  mechanism  of 
society ;  that  on  every  side  the  innocent 
suffer  for  the  greed  and  lust,  the  meanness 

[50] 


Injustice 


and  fraud,  of  guilty  men  who  escape  out- 
ward punishment. 

On  the  other  hand  virtue  for  the  most 
part  goes  without  its  immediate  outward 
reward.  Patient  toil  is  doomed  to  life- 
long poverty.  Purity  suffers  the  penalty 
of  others'  lust.  The  genius,  giving  his  best 
to  art  or  science,  dies  unrecognized.  The 
reformer  fights  a  losing  battle  against  in- 
trenched tradition  and  corruption. 

Save  me  from  the  base  belief  that  be- 
cause things  are  so  bad  it  is  useless  to  try 
to  make  them  better.  Save  me  from  the 
unbelief,  openly  avowed  or  veiled  in  pious 
phrases,  which  seeks  material  answers  to 
spiritual  questions,  physical  rewards  for 
moral  qualities. 

Knowing  not  how  I  could  make  a  better 
world,  even  with  omnipotence  to  help ;  be- 
lieving that  freedom  with  all  its  injustices 
is  better  than  the  most  perfect  mechanism  ; 
help  me  to  accept  injustice  as  the  price  of 
freedom  in  a  complex  society ;  which 
neither  for  myself,  nor  for  those  I  love,  can 
I  altogether  escape. 

[51] 


JUSTICE 

FINDING  in  the  outer  world  so  much 
injustice,  I  turn  to  the  inner  justice 
which  consists  in  the  soul's  relation 
to  Thee.  In  conscious  fellowship  with 
Thee  may  I  find  the  sure  and  sufficient 
reward  of  all  virtue.  In  exclusion  from 
Thy  life  of  love,  in  blindness  of  eye  and 
hardness  of  heart,  may  I  see  the  fearful 
and  unescapable  penalty  of  persistent 
sin. 

Show  me  that  the  dishonest  man  can 
have  no  real  part  or  lot  in  that  beneficent 
economic  order  which  Thou  art  building 
up  on  earth,  and  he  is  breaking  down. 

Show  me  that  the  corrupt  politician  can 
have  no  part  or  lot  in  the  patriot's  love  of 
country,  which  he  is  helping  to  destroy. 

Show  me  that  the  libertine's  sodden  soul 
can  have  no  part  or  lot  in  the  sweet  joys  of 
pure  affection  within  the  happy  home, 
which  his  conduct  wrecks. 

Show  me  that  pride  and  greed,  deceit 

[52] 


yusttce 


and  hate,  can  have  no  part  or  lot  in  that 
devotion  to  others  wherein  the  fellowship 
of  Thy  love  is  found. 

On  the  other  hand,  in  all  apparently  un- 
rewarded labour  for  truth,  beauty,  purity 
and  love  ;  in  all  losing  battles  for  the  right ; 
in  all  defeated  efforts  for  reform ;  in  all  un- 
successful endeavours  for  the  better  order 
that  is  yet  to  be  ;  sustain  and  comfort  me 
with  the  sense  that  Thou  art  with  me ;  that 
even  through  sacrifice,  disaster,  defeat  and 
death,  I  am  partaker  in  Thy  triumph, 
agent  of  Thy  progress,  sharer  of  Thy  life, 
child  of  Thy  love. 

In  the  vision  of  Thy  beauty  granted  to 
the  pure  in  heart ;  in  the  sharing  of  Thy 
love  offered  to  the  doers  of  Thy  will,  may 
I  find,  as  opposite  sides  of  the  same  rela- 
tionship. Thy  justice  and  my  own  blessed- 
ness. 

I  thank  Thee,  too,  that,  tardily  and  in- 
directly, even  material  goods  and  social 
honours  sometimes  follow  in  the  train  of 
the  inner  justice  which  binds  the  faithful 
soldier-soul  to  Thee. 

[53] 


TEMPERANCE 

HELP  me  to  make  my  rule  of  life 
the  great  law  Thou  hast  wrought 
into  the  structure  of  crystal,  plant 
and  animal — the  law  man  must  embody 
in  everything  he  would  fit  for  use  and 
crown  with  beauty — the  law  that  grants  to 
each  detail  just  so  much  as  best  serves  the 
inner  purpose  that  animates  the  whole. 

In  diet  may  I  eat  and  drink,  in  quality 
and  quantity,  so  much  as  will  give  the  fin- 
est vigour  of  body  and  of  mind ;  not  fall- 
ing short  through  abstemiousness,  nor 
running  to  excess  in  gluttony  and  drunk- 
enness. 

In  dress  may  I  seek  such  texture,  colour 
and  form  as  befits  my  work  and  station ; 
conforms  to  the  customs  of  my  fellows ; 
and  makes  attractive  my  personal  appear- 
ance :  not  falling  short  in  slovenliness  and 
eccentricity ;  nor  overdressing  in  vanity 
and  ostentation. 

In  action  may  I  exert  my  powers  up  to  the 
[54] 


Temperance 


limit  of  health,  and  the  demands  of  my  call- 
ing ;  not  shirking  through  laziness,  nor  wear- 
ing myself  out  with  inordinate  ambition. 

In  business  may  I  seek  so  much  money 
as  will  best  serve  my  family,  my  com- 
munity, my  social  circle  ;  not  content  with 
less  than  is  essential  to  efficiency,  nor 
anxious  for  more  than  I  can  organize  into 
wholesome  use  and  rational  enjoyment. 

In  society  may  I  share  my  life  with  as 
many  as  I  can  touch  with  sympathy  and 
stimulus  ;  not  drawing  into  my  shell  in 
selfish  isolation,  nor  squandering  my  inde- 
pendence in  the  chase  for  popularity. 

In  education  may  I  learn  for  myself  and 
teach  to  my  children  all  that  develops 
power  and  pleasure ;  not  neglecting  any 
genuine  intellectual  interest,  nor  sacrificing 
vitality  and  joy  for  rank  and  reputation. 

In  religion  may  I  bring  my  conscious 
conduct  and  my  unconscious  motivation 
under  the  influence  of  Thy  perfect  love ; 
not  lapsing  into  soulless  secularity ;  nor 
yet  losing  in  mystic  ecstasy  the  crowning 
grace  of  practicality. 

[55] 


RES  PONSIBILITT 

AMID  the  many  clashing  forces 
which  together  constitute  the 
world ;  some  of  which  make  for 
life,  health,  peace,  joy ;  others  for  discord, 
disease,  misery,  death;  grant  that  the 
little  I  can  do  may  be  sweet,  sound,  just, 
generous ;  allied  to  the  great  stream  of 
force  making  for  good  which  is  Thy  will. 

This  once  secured,  may  I  drop  at  Thy 
feet  my  burden  of  responsibility  ;  knowing 
that  in  any  event  the  issue  is  never  the  re- 
sult of  my  single  effort ;  but  the  resultant 
of  ten  thousand  forces  of  which  my  act  is 
only  one. 

When  the  event  is  outwardly  and  visi- 
bly successful,  may  I  not  be  puffed  up ; 
but  rather  modestly  thankful  for  the  other 
conditions  which  make  the  success  of  my 
effort  possible ;  humbly  grateful  for  the 
privilege  of  sharing  in  an  achievement 
which  is  mainly  Thine. 

When  the  event  is  apparent  failure,  may 

[56] 


Responsibility 


I  have  the  assurance  that  it  is  due  to  fac- 
tors which  I  did  not  contribute,  and  could 
not  control ;  that  in  spite  of  this  particular 
defeat  the  powers  of  good  are  so  much 
stronger,  the  powers  of  evil  so  much 
weaker,  for  the  good  efiort  I  put  forth. 

May  I  work  at  the  never  completed  task 
of  bringing  the  better  out  of  the  worse ; 
assured  that  he  who  struggles  to  make 
the  world  materially  and  morally  better 
thereby  dwells  in  fellowship  with  Thee, 
who  art  the  spiritual  best. 

Though  new  forms  of  evil  arise  as  fast 
as  the  old  are  overthrown ;  though  as 
long  as  man  is  free  and  society  grows 
more  and  more  complex,  evil  will  spread 
and  the  triumph  of  the  good  will  be  de- 
ferred ;  may  I  never  despair  ;  never  deem 
the  work  too  great  for  me  to  undertake,  or 
my  power  too  small  to  count.  May  I  as- 
sume entire  responsibility  for  making  the 
little  I  can  do  as  good  as  possible ;  and  no 
responsibility  whatever  for  more  than  that ; 
casting  all  responsibility  for  the  total  out- 
come where  it  belongs,  on  Thee. 

[57] 


WEALTH 

I  THANK  Thee  for  Thy  great  eco- 
nomic  law — the  law  which  thieves  in 
various  disguises  may  tamper  with, 
but  never  can  destroy — the  law  that  in  re- 
turn for  the  goods  or  services  I  render  to 
the  world,  the  world  stands  ready  to  give 
me  an  equivalent,  whenever  in  the  sym- 
bolic form  of  money  I  present  my  claim. 

I  thank  Thee  too  for  the  saved  wealth  of 
ancestors  which  came  to  me  unearned. 
Yet  this  more  perilous  gift  I  receive  with 
fear  and  trembling.  For  as  this  inherit- 
ance represents  the  surplus  of  their  service 
to  the  world  above  personal  consumption ; 
so  it  brings  to  me  the  temptation  to  make 
my  consumption  exceed  my  production  ; 
and  thus  become  a  bankrupt  and  a  beggar 
in  my  account  with  the  world  of  services 
rendered  and  received.  Forbid  that  I  be- 
come a  spiritual  pauper  through  mis- 
use of  wealth  by  gaining  which  my  ances- 
tors proved  themselves  the  world's  benefac- 

[58] 


Wealth 

tors.  Teach  me  to  count  as  true  wealth 
surplus  of  service  rendered  above  services 
and  goods  consumed.  Save  me  from 
taking  advantage  of  the  long  lease  of  sel- 
fishness which  inherited  wealth  puts  in  the 
hands  of  every  heir. 

May  I  by  thrift  always  have  more  than 
I  immediately  need ;  keep  it  prudently  in- 
vested ;  and  give  generously  to  worthy 
persons  and  causes. 

Grant  me  either  poverty  or  riches,  or  if 
it  may  be  a  modest  competence  ;  accord- 
ing as  one  or  another  of  these  conditions 
will  best  fit  me  for  Thy  service.  Save  me 
from  the  base  desire  to  gain  money  by  the 
chance  or  certainty  of  others'  loss. 

Make  me  friendly  to  all  such  well-con- 
sidered changes  in  the  holding,  distribution, 
and  transmission  of  property  as  will  relieve 
the  material  misery  of  extreme  poverty, 
prevent  the  spiritual  dangers  of  extreme 
wealth,  and  give  to  the  greatest  number  a 
fair  opportunity  to  enjoy  the  material  and 
spiritual  advantages  of  toil  and  comfort 
without  grinding  want  or  enervating  luxury. 

[59] 


SOCIETY 

I  THANK  Thee  for  groups  of  congenial 
persons  with  whom  to  talk,  and  feast, 
and  laugh,  and  sing,  and  play,  and 
cast  off  care.  May  I  ever  be  ready  to  give 
my  best  to  my  friends,  and  to  receive  from 
them  the  best  they  have  to  give  in  this  gay 
mutual  exchange. 

While  the  size  and  complexion  of  groups 
which  can  meet  with  mutual  profit  is  lim- 
ited by  manners,  cultivation,  and  com- 
munity of  interest,  may  I  avoid  the  spirit 
of  exclusiveness  as  the  deadliest  poison  of 
the  soul.  May  I  make  the  circle  of  my 
friends  as  large  as  possible ;  sincerely  re- 
gretting the  exclusion  of  any  whom  lack  of 
fitness  or  congeniality  compels  me  to  keep 
out ;  never  forgetting  that  the  door  of  ex- 
clusiveness, whether  arrogantly  slammed, 
or  gently  closed  under  regretful  necessity, 
always  shuts  me  out  from  infinitely  more 
than  it  shuts  in  with  me. 

[60] 


Society 


While  doing  my  best  to  contribute  to 
the  common  joy  ;  may  I  heartily  rejoice 
when  others,  more  rich,  more  brilliant, 
more  resourceful,  make  greater  contribu- 
tions. Save  me  alike  from  jealous  pride 
over  my  points  of  fancied  superiority,  and 
foolish  sensitiveness  about  my  points  of  in- 
feriority. 

Save  me  from  the  folly  of  trying  to  make 
society  the  substantial  food  of  life,  instead 
of  its  spice  and  sauce  ;  and  from  the  hol- 
lowness  of  heart  and  bitterness  of  spirit 
which  are  the  penalties  of  such  perversity. 

May  I  first  of  all  earn  my  place  in  so- 
ciety by  doing  some  honest  work,  and  fill- 
ing some  useful  place  in  industry,  scholar- 
ship, politics,  art,  or  philanthropy ;  and 
then  use  my  influence  to  make  society,  in 
simplicity  of  life,  in  reasonableness  of 
hours,  in  moderation  of  expense,  the 
rational  recreation  of  the  evenings  and 
holidays  of  those  whose  mornings  and  or- 
dinary days  are  devoted  to  doing  their 
fair  share  of  the  world's  hard  work. 

[61] 


COUNTRT 

I   THANK  Thee  for  my  country ;   its 
liberties    and    laws ;    its   institutions 
and  traditions  ;  its  courts  and  schools, 
its  executive  officers  and  legislators ;    its 
army   and   navy ;    its   civil   servants   and 
police. 

May  I  honour  every  department  of  it, 
and  every  one  who  serves  it  faithfully. 
May  I  obey  its  laws.  May  I  pay  my 
taxes  cheerfully  ;  glad  of  the  opportunity 
to  contribute  my  full  proportion  of  the 
means  whereby  it  is  maintained.  May  I 
form  intelligent  opinions  of  public  policy, 
and  express  them  in  earnest  discussion 
and  a  disinterested  vote.  May  I  com- 
mend faithful  public  servants  wherever 
commendation  is  deserved  ;  and  condemn 
those  who  pervert  political  office  or  in- 
fluence to  selfish  ends. 

May  I  work  with  the  party  which  on 
the  whole  best  represents  the  policy  which 
I  approve  ;  not  expecting  perfection  either 

[62] 


C  ountry 


in  men  or  measures ;  yet  may  I  stand 
ready  to  leave  my  party  when  its  op- 
ponents offer  substantially  better  men  or 
better  measures. 

Having  first  solved  my  individual  prob- 
lems in  the  support  of  myself,  and  those 
dependent  on  me,  may  I  accept  whatever 
public  office,  service  or  trust  my  fellow- 
citizens  may  confer.  May  I  seek  what- 
ever office  or  position  I  feel  qualified  to 
fill  better  than  it  would  otherwise  be 
filled ;  counting  no  sacrifice  of  time, 
money,  leisure,  or  personal  convenience 
too  great,  if  thereby  I  may  return  to  my 
community  and  country  a  little  part  of 
the  countless  benefits  they  have  bestowed 
on  me. 

May  my  love  of  country  include  love  of 
state  and  town,  and  prompt  me  to  do  my 
fair  share  of  local  political  work.  May  it 
also  involve  a  kindly  interest  in  the  wel- 
fare of  every  other  country ;  and  the 
effort  to  substitute  arbitration  for  war,  and 
to  maintain  a  just  peace  with  all  the 
other  nations. 

[63] 


JUDGMENT 

AS  often  as  I  seek  the  hard  good 
above  me  ;  as  often  as  I  repent 
the  easy  evil  into  which  I  fall ;  so 
often  Thou  art  with  me  to  approve  and 
to  forgive.  Thereby  may  I  be  lifted  up 
above  too  great  concern  for  what  men 
say  of  me. 

Still  human  praise  is  dear  ;  and  blame 
of  men  is  hard  to  bear.  May  I  strive  to 
deserve  my  friends'  approval ;  and  when 
I  fail  be  more  sorry  for  the  fault  than  for 
the  blame  it  brings. 

When  through  no  fault  of  mine  I  am 
condemned ;  when  I  turn  from  the  out- 
grown truth  and  outworn  right  of  yester- 
day to  the  unproved  truth  and  untried 
right  of  to-morrow ;  when  I  stand  loyally 
by  the  hidden  goodness  in  men  who  are 
called  bad  ;  when  I  sacrifice  the  near-by 
good  which  everybody  sees  for  the  far-off 
good  which  most  people  cannot  see  ;  when 
in  a  just  economy  I  appear  mean,  or  for 

[64] 


yudgment 


higher  efficiency  indulge  in  what  looks 
like  luxury ;  when  I  obey  Thy  specific 
call  within,  instead  of  the  common  clamour 
without ;  when  in  strenuous  intensity  of 
service  I  seem  over-ambitious,  or  in  pru- 
dent self-preservation  seem  indolent — at 
all  such  times  may  I  rest  secure  in  Thy 
understanding  of  my  inmost  purpose,  and 
Thy  charity  for  my  shortcomings. 

Help  me  to  judge  others  on  this  same 
generous  scale ;  counting  him  highest 
who  with  most  love  fulfills  the  duties  of 
his  station,  be  that  station  high  or  low  ; 
counting  him  lowest  who  succeeds  in  get- 
ting most  and  giving  least. 

Give  me  sympathy  for  all  the  poor ; 
whether  their  poverty  be  that  of  purse,  or 
talent,  or  culture,  or  opportunity.  May  I 
have  eyes  to  see  the  worth  that  shines 
through  coarse  circumstance,  rude  manners, 
ruined  reputation,  and  repented  sin.  Yet 
may  I  ever  hold  in  highest  honour  those 
who  in  great  wealth  and  high  station  serve 
Thee  and  their  fellow  men  with  a  generous 
aim  and  a  humble  heart. 
.        [65] 


BEREAVEMENT 

THOU  bindest  me  to  life  by 
sweet,  tender  ties — father,  mother, 
brother,  sister,  husband,  wife, 
son,  daughter,  lover,  friend.  All  the 
tendrils  of  my  heart  are  twined  around 
them ;  all  my  purposes  revolve  about 
them ;  all  my  hopes  are  centered  in  them  ; 
all  my  success  is  measured  by  their  joy. 

Thou  takest  them  away.  Then  I  am 
tempted  to  withdraw  altogether  from  the 
world,  in  hopeless  dejection  ;  a  burden  to 
myself  and  a  sorrow  to  my  remaining 
friends  ;  or  hide  myself  in  foreign  lands  ; 
or  plunge  madly  into  meaningless  activi- 
ties ;  vainly  striving  to  run  away  from  the 
grief  I  never  can  escape. 

Make  me  strong  to  resist  this  cowardice. 
Forbid  that  I  should  idly  accept  my  dear 
one's    mortality.     In    the    hour    of    sore 

[66]       , 


Bereavement 


bereavement  may  I  summon  the  great 
resources  of  the  soul — memory,  imagina- 
tion, faith,  hope,  love.  May  I  gratefully 
recall  all  that  my  beloved  one  was  to  me  ; 
all  that  he  stood  for  in  the  world.  May  I 
live  even  more  constantly  in  the  com- 
panionship of  his  spirit ;  may  I  carry  out 
in  the  old  spheres  in  which  we  together 
moved,  so  much  of  his  purpose  as  I  can. 
May  I  be  kind  to  the  friends  he  loved  ;  de- 
voted to  the  community  in  which  he 
lived ;  loyal  to  the  causes  which  he  served. 
Thus  in  my  life  may  he  still  live  on,  to 
my  own  comfort,  and  the  welfare  of  the 
world. 

By  loyal  living  in  the  perpetual  pres- 
ence of  my  dear  departed  may  I  gain  the 
power  to  see  Thee  who  art  invisible,  and 
to  realize  Thy  presence :  that  those  whom 
Thou  hast  taken  may  not  only  remain  with 
me,  but  may  also  draw  me  nearer  to  Thy- 
self. 


[67] 


IMMORTALirr 

THOUGH  fidelity  of  soul  can  do 
much  to  rob  the  grave  of  its 
victory,  still  I  too  must  soon  fol- 
low the  dear  ones  gone  before.  For  them 
and  for  myself  I  crave  more  than  a  tran- 
sient survival  in  loyal  hearts  who  take  up 
and  carry  on  our  work. 

For  this  true  immortality  I  turn  in 
entire  confidence  to  Thee.  I  know  not 
how,  out  of  a  world  which  gave  no  evi- 
dence of  anything  but  matter  and  force. 
Thou  hast  called  forth  the  life  and  love 
which  are  its  crowning  ornaments.  I 
know  no  more,  and  no  less,  of  how  Thou 
canst  lead  these  broken  lives  and  severed 
loves  of  ours  to  the  fulfillment  they  de- 
mand. But  all  I  know  of  love  in  myself ; 
all  I  see  of  it  in  human  hearts  ;  makes  me 
confident  that  Thou  wiliest  this  fulfillment. 
As  without  other  souls  to  love  I  should 
shrink  into  nothingness,  so  Thou,  apart 
from  souls  to  love  and  be  loved  by  in  re- 

[68] 


Immortality 


turn,  wouldst  be  no  person,  no  Father,  no 
God — a  mere  blank  emptiness  inferior  to 
man  whom  Thou  hast  made. 

Because  I  cannot  think  of  Thee  as  less 
than  myself,  or  lower  than  the  highest  men 
and  women  I  have  known,  therefore  I  trust 
Thy  heart  of  love  to  preserve  all  that  is 
precious  in  these  lives  and  loves  of  ours. 

I  thank  Thee  for  reported  visions  of  de- 
parted ones ;  yet  I  would  not  lean  on 
these  material  props  more  weight  than  they 
will  bear.  My  confidence  is  in  Thee,  as 
Thou  art  revealed  in  my  own  soul,  in  hu- 
manity at  its  best,  and  in  Jesus  Christ :  not 
in  doubtful  traditions  or  alleged  manifesta- 
tions. 

As  Thou  hast  made  this  life  of  ours  on 
earth  a  closed  circle,  free  from  violent  in- 
terruptions, may  I  accept  it  as  the  call  to 
concentrate  my  little  strength,  during  my 
brief  sojourn,  on  life  and  love  and  duty  as 
I  find  them  here  :  trusting  my  beloved  and 
myself  entirely  to  Thy  power,  Thy  wisdom, 
and  Thy  love  for  future  growth  in  char- 
acter and  progress  in  blessedness. 

[69] 


CHARirr 

IN  all  my  yearning  after  immortality, 
teach  me  to  prize  quality  above  quan- 
tity, and  to  measure  the  value  of  du- 
ration by  the  kind  of  life  with  which  each 
day  is  filled.  Thou  art  love  to  all :  rich, 
poor,  high,  low,  good,  bad ;  and  charity — 
the  power  to  live  in  and  for  lives  other  than 
one's  own — is  the  open  door  through  which 
my  life  enters  into  and  abides  in  Thine. 

Towards  those  who  are  stronger,  happier, 
better,  may  I  look  up  in  ardent  admiration, 
enthusiastic  devotion  ;  never  letting  envy 
or  jealousy  rob  me  of  the  share  in  their 
excellence  which  belongs  to  every  one 
who  heartily  rejoices  in  it. 

Towards  those  more  poor,  more 
wretched,  more  wicked  than  myself,  may  I 
go  out  in  generous  aid,  tactful  compassion, 
kindly  counsel,  according  to  their  needs ; 
never   letting  pride   or  self-righteousness 

[70] 


C  harity 

hold  me  back  from  doing  for  the  worst  man 
the  kindest  thing  his  character  and  my 
abiUty  permit. 

Save  me  from  the  obvious  hypocrisy  of 
offering  charity  without  the  physical  act, 
the  material  article,  which  is  its  practical 
expression.  Save  me  from  the  more  sub- 
tle hypocrisy  of  giving  money  or  goods 
without  the  sympathetic  sharing  of  life's 
problems  which  gifts  of  goods  and  money, 
if  they  are  to  bless  rather  than  curse,  must 
judiciously  express. 

Sharing  the  joys  and  honours  of  the 
more  favoured ;  bearing  the  burdens  and 
sorrows  of  the  less  fortunate ;  may  I  so 
multiply  my  life  by  all  the  other  lives  I 
touch,  that  it  shall  be  large  as  its  environ- 
ment, and  constantly  expanding  with  it ; 
of  the  same  quality  of  charity  as  that 
which  Christ  brought  to  earth,  and,  where- 
ever  lived,  makes  the  blessedness  of 
heaven. 


[71] 


